Is the act, ceremony or process
by which the legal relationship of husband and wife is constituted.
The legality of the union may be established by civil, religious
or other means as recognized by the laws of each country.

B. Divorce (para.
57.)

Is a final legal dissolution
of a marriage, that is, that separation of husband and wife which
confers on the parties the right to remarriage under civil, religious
and/or other provisions, according to the laws of each country.

C. Annulment (para.
57.)

Is the invalidation or voiding
of a marriage by a competent authority, according to the laws of
each country, which confers on the parties the status of never having
been married to each other.

D. Separation, judicial(para. 57.)

Is the disunion of married persons, according to
the laws of each country, without conferring on the parties the
right to remarry.

E. Marital Status(paras. 168.- 174.)

According to the Principles and
Recommendations for Vital Statistics Systems, marital status is
the status of individuals with respect to the marriage laws or customs
of the country. It is recommended that the following categories
of marital status be identified:

(a)

single (never married);

(b)

lawfully married;

(c)

religious married, consensual union and customary
union;

(d)

widowed and not remarried;

(e)

divorced and not remarried;

(f)

married but legally separated.

Modifications of this classification
which may need to be made to meet the special situations existing
in some cultures must be based on first-hand knowledge of the local
environment and customs. It should be mentioned, however, that in
all cultures marital statuses ranging from legal to consensual unions
are found in varying degrees and within that range unions may be
monogamous or polygamous. The extent to which various types of unions
are socially acceptable will determine the modifications which will
be required to meet national needs. For example, in countries which
permit polygamy it may be desirable to include a question on number
of current wives. Modifications should be made within the framework
of the basic classification in order to maintain international comparability
as much as possible.

F.
Marital Status(paras.
2.96.- 2.103.)

According to the Principles and
Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, marital status
is the personal status of each individual in relation to the marriage
laws or customs of the country. The categories of marital status
to be identified are the following:

(a)

single,
in other words, never married;

(b)

married;

(c)

widowed and not remarried;

(d)

divorced and not remarried;

(e)

married but separated.

In some countries, category (b)
may require a subcategory of persons who are contractually married
but not yet living as man and wife. In all countries, category (e)
should comprise both the legally and the de facto separated, these
may be shown as separate subcategories. Regardless of the fact that
couples who are separated may be considered to be still married
(because they are not free to remarry), neither of the subcategories
of (e) should be included in category (b).

The marital status categories described
above do not provide complete information on the range of de facto
unions of varying degrees of stability, which may be common in some
countries; nor do they adequately describe the prevalence of formal
marriage combined with relatively stable de facto unions outside
marriage. Information on these relationships is very useful in studies
of fertility but it is not possible to provide an international
recommendation on this matter because of the different circumstances
prevailing among countries. It is suggested, however, that countries
wishing to investigate these relationships should consider the possibility
of collecting separate data for each person on formal marital unions,
on de facto unions and on the duration of each type of union.

United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics